Improvement in memory with time

Groups of rats which had incompletely learnt to escape from shock into the lit arm of a Y-maze, were tested for retention of the habit at various times after training. These times ranged from 30 min. to 17 days. Retention was found to be poor from 30 min. to 5 days, showed a marked improvement at 7 to 10 days and a subsequent decrement after 14 days. These results parallel those previously found for the differential susceptibility to cholinergic drugs of habits of different age. They provide further evidence that memory strength increases with time up to a point, and then gradually decreases.     

Social dominance and interpersonal power: Asymmetrical relationships within hierarchy‐enhancing and hierarchy‐attenuating work environments

We studied whether high‐social dominant employees sustain hierarchies in different hierarchy‐enhancing and hierarchy‐attenuating organizations endorsing harsh and soft power tactics. We found that social dominance orientation was positively associated with harsh power tactics, and negatively associated with soft power tactics. Employees higher in social dominance orientation endorsed harsh and opposed to soft power tactics as respectively hierarchy‐enhancing and hierarchy‐attenuating legitimizing myths that promote a dominant‐submissive form of intergroup relationships. We also found that supervisors higher in social dominance, due to their dominant position, strongly opposed soft power tactics more than subordinates did. Amongst high‐social dominant employees in the hierarchy‐attenuating (vs. hierarchy‐enhancing) organization, we observed the strongest opposition to soft power tactics, which are the tactics most shared in an organization which tends to attenuate hierarchies.     

Evidence of a disposition toward fearfulness and vulnerability to posttraumatic stress in dysfunctional pain patients

Few investigations have addressed whether patient subgroups derived using the Multiaxial Assessment of Pain (MAP) [Turk, D. C., & Rudy, T. E. (1987). Towards a comprehensive assessment of chronic pain patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 25, 237-249; Turk, D. C., & Rudy, T. E. (1988). Toward an empirically derived taxonomy of chronic pain patients: integration of psychological assessment data. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 233-238.] differ with regard to fear and avoidance. It has, however, been reported that dysfunctional patients exhibit more pain-specific fear and avoidance than patients classified as interpersonally distressed or minimizers/adaptive copers [Asmundson, G. J. G., Norton, G. R., & Allerdings, M. D. (1997). Fear and avoidance in dysfunctional chronic back pain patients. Pain, 69, 231-236.]. We attempted to extend these findings by examining two fear constructs that are receiving increased attention in the chronic pain literature-anxiety sensitivity and PTSD. The sample comprised 115 patients with chronic pain. Of these, 14 (12.2%) were classified as dysfunctional, 21 (18.3%) as interpersonally distressed and 47 (40.8%) as minimizers/adaptive copers. Between-group differences were observed on the fear of cognitive and emotional dyscontrol dimension of anxiety sensitivity, total and symptom cluster scores on the PTSD measure, and depression. No differences were observed for the fear of somatic sensations dimension of anxiety sensitivity or agoraphobia, social phobia, and blood/injury fears. Dysfunctional patients generally exhibited elevated scores relative to one or both of the other MAP subgroups on fear of cognitive and emotional dyscontrol, depressed affect, PTSD symptom total score and PTSD symptom cluster scores. As well, a substantial proportion of dysfunctional and interpersonally distressed patients were classified as having PTSD (71.4 and 42.9%, respectively) when compared to minimizers/adaptive copers (21.3%). These results suggest that MAP subgroups differ with regard to their propensity to be(come) fearful and in their likelihood of having PTSD. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

Visuospatial function in the beagle dog: an early marker of cognitive decline in a model of human aging and dementia

Visuospatial learning and memory impairments are an early marker for age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Similar to humans, aged dogs show visuospatial learning and memory deficits (). One hundred and nine beagle dogs ranging between 0.25 and 11.99 years were tested on a visuospatial delayed non-matching to position (DNMP) task to better characterize the progression of visuospatial deficits in the dog. Age predicted 48.2% of the variability in learning the DNMP, with dogs ranging from 1 to 11.99 years generally making more errors with increasing age. By contrast, puppies (<1 year) likely were showing developmental deficits, possibly due to an immature prefrontal cortex. Mild visuospatial deficits were detected by 6 years, which precedes the typical onset of amyloid-beta (Abeta) accumulation in the dog brain by two years, and can serve as an early marker for cognitive decline in the dog. These findings suggest that (1) age-related changes in visuospatial function in the dog models that seen in humans, further validating the dog as a model for human aging and dementia; and (2) other mechanisms, such as oxidative stress, soluble Abeta oligomers or cholinergic deficits, are likely contributing to the early impairment.     

Perceptions of a fluid consensus: uniqueness bias, false consensus, false polarization, and pluralistic ignorance in a water conservation crisis

A 5-day field study (N = 415) during and right after a shower ban demonstrated multifaceted social projection and the tendency to draw personality inferences from simple behavior in a time of drastic consensus change. Bathers thought showering was more prevalent than did non-bathers (false consensus) and respondents consistently underestimated the prevalence of the desirable and common behavior--be it not showering during the shower ban or showering after the ban (uniqueness bias). Participants thought that bathers and non-bathers during the ban differed greatly in their general concern for the community, but self-reports demonstrated that this gap was illusory (false polarization). Finally, bathers thought other bathers cared less than they did, whereas non-bathers thought other non-bathers cared more than they did (pluralistic ignorance). The study captures the many biases at work in social perception in a time of social change.     

Vicarious dissonance: attitude change from the inconsistency of others

Three studies support the vicarious dissonance hypothesis that individuals change their attitudes when witnessing members of important groups engage in inconsistent behavior. Study 1, in which participants observed an actor in an induced-compliance paradigm, documented that students who identified with their college supported an issue more after hearing an ingroup member make a counterattitudinal speech in favor of that issue. In Study 2, vicarious dissonance occurred even when participants did not hear a speech, and attitude change was highest when the speaker was known to disagree with the issue. Study 3 showed that speaker choice and aversive consequences moderated vicarious dissonance, and demonstrated that vicarious discomfort--the discomfort observers imagine feeling if in an actor's place--was attenuated after participants expressed their revised attitudes.     

Hierarchical model of generalized and specific vulnerabilities in anxiety

This study evaluated a theoretical hierarchical relationship among the general anxiety vulnerability variable of neuroticism, the specific vulnerability variables of anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty, and variables reflecting specific anxiety foci including panic symptoms, health anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and generalized anxiety/worry. Questionnaires assessing these variables were administered to a non-clinical sample of 91 first-year psychology students (64.8% women). Path analysis results were highly consistent with the hypothesized hierarchical model. Neuroticism was found to have a significant direct effect on both anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty. Both neuroticism and anxiety sensitivity had direct significant effects on panic symptoms, neuroticism and intolerance of uncertainty both made significant direct contributions to the prediction of worry, and neuroticism made a significant direct contribution to the prediction of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Contrary to the hypothesized model, anxiety sensitivity but not neuroticism uniquely predicted health anxiety. The results of this study provide initial empirical evidence for a hierarchical relationship among general and specific vulnerabilities, and specific anxiety manifestations.     

Who Gets What and Why: Determinants of Social Allocations

Four experiments were conducted to explore how people allocate social resources between meritorious and needy parties. As predicted, participants with high social dominance orientation (SDO), who prefer hierarchical relationships in society, favored meritorious parties. In contrast, participants with low SDO, who value social equality, favored needy parties. Participants appealed to merit- or need-based ideologies to justify their allocations. Apparently, the notion of fairness denotes merit-based reasoning to people with high SDO, whereas it denotes need-based reasoning for those with low SDO. Among the participants, merit- and need-based ideologies were not simply post hoc rationalizations, but rather mediated the allocation decisions. Implications for the study of ideology and for theories of distributive justice are discussed.